In the Gaps, Between Words
by AllHandsLinked
Summary: *FUTURE FIC* Blaine is gearing up for a new school year and a fresh start. He is excited to meet all his new pupils, but one looks hauntingly familiar.
1. Prologue

Blaine looked down at the attendance sheet again.

"Tomas Fairthorn?" Check.

It was the beginning of a new school year.

"Alison Galaway?" Check.

All things were bring and shiny and new, erasers still had their corners, pencils hadn't been sharpened yet and the new set of building blocks was still in its container.

"Jeff Henderson?" Check.

It was time for Blaine to put all of his past behind him and focus on the new.

"Emilia Hummel?"

...Until his past decided to bite him in the ass.

"Here, Mr. Anderson." Blaine looked at the little girl with sharp blue eyes under long brown doe-like lashes. There was no mistaking Kurt's daughter.

Blaine felt his pencil shaking as he checked her name off the attendance. He took a breath and gathered himself.

"Jake Ingersol?"

**A/N: this was originally posted on tumblr as a drabble for a prompt by crayolasaurus. That is why it is so short. **

**My beta finally got around to correcting me. :) I love her. So thank you pineappletop92. You are my very own Hermione Granger.**

**I would also like to say that this is a different style that i am trying out. I hope you like it. **


	2. Principals

Blaine quietly stepped into the Main Office. He closed the door gently behind him and padded to the smiling secretary. As he approached he noticed the smile wasn't as genuine as Ms. Copps's smile usually was. Of course this was completely understandable due to the incredible amount of noise that was coming from the Principal's office in the back corner.

She waved him on. Blaine approached with trepidation. He knew what waited for him on the other side.

"Tell me again WHY Emilia is being transferred classes?" That voice. Blaine's eyes fluttered closed.

"I told you before; the teacher gave personal reasons..." The corner of Blaine's mouth twitched at the fear in the Principal's voice.

"You know what I think? I think it is just a case of homophobia! Emilia will be better off in a different class if that is the case."

"I assure you it is not that."

Kurt ignored him. "And you can tell this Mr. Anders that I will-"

"Anderson, actually." Blaine interrupted him, stepping into the cramped office and holding out a hand to the man he had loved more than any other.

Kurt turned his angry eyes to Blaine. For a second they burned hot with anger, and then it changed to something else equally as hot. And then... "Oh."

Blaine took this opportunity to take his hand. "Mr. Hummel." He was proud that his voice didn't shake. "I agree with you. Emilia is a smart girl and deserves to stay in the class where she has made so many friends." Not that there was much point in her transferring now that Kurt had seen him.

Kurt withdrew his hand with a jerk. "I-" He turned to the Principal. "That will be fine." He left the room, carefully avoiding brushing shoulders with Blaine. Blaine brought the hand that he had touched Kurt with up to his face and brushed the back of it against his mouth.

**A/N: i like telling the story in short snippets. :) It also means i can up-date faster. Thank you to all my Reviewers, and those that followed me here from Tumblr. **


	3. The Life of a Child

Blaine walked around his classroom, watching his students. Art was his favorite class to teach. It was so much more personal than the other subjects.

"Mr. Anderson," Emilia raised her hand and said. "I'm done my drawing." Blaine crouched beside her desk.

"It is beautiful." Blaine looked at the collection of scribbles. "Can you tell me about it?"

Emilia nodded enthusiastically, blond hair slipping from behind her ears. "That is me." She indicated a little blond scribble. "And that is Daddy." She pointed to a larger, brown squiggle. "And that is Mommy!" She pointed out the final blond shape.

Blaine looked at the drawing confused. "Mommy?"

The girl nodded. "Yes. I love my Mommy."

* * *

Kurt heard the bus squeal to a stop and glanced out the window. He smiled as Emilia raced into the house.

"Daddy! Daddy!" She crashed through the door and he swept her up in his arms.

"How was your day at school, Angel?" Kurt sighed, happy to have his daughter home with him once again. It was silly but he could never stop worrying about her. Did she have enough to eat? Was she having fun? Was she making friends. He knew that she was growing up and he would have to let go a bit more soon. But for right now he held her close in his arms.

"Good! Mr. Anderson played us a song. And we are going to sing it for the whole school at the talent show! Are you gonna to come watch me?" If she had inherited one thing from her dad it was his flair for theatrics. Well, that and her eyes.

"Of course! I wouldn't miss it." Kurt placed a kiss on her head and then her in a chair in front of the plate of cheese and grapes. Emilia started munching away at them as she talked. Kurt sat down across from here to listen fondly.

"...But I don't think Mr. Anderson likes me very much." This caught Kurt's attention.

"Why would you say that?" He tried to keep the frown out of his voice and off of his face.

"Because he is sad when he looks at me." She contemplated a grape.

"I'm sure he doesn't hate you. If you want I can go in and talk to him."

"No! It's ok. He gave me a sticker on my last spelling test so he must kinda like me."

Kurt leaned in and whisper,"well you are pretty hard not to kinda like." Emilia giggled as Kurt stole a grape from her plate.

* * *

**A/N: Hello! so, another chapter is here with more plot.**

**Once again i have the best Beta, who keeps me going (all errors are my own, trust me)**

**I love the people who reviewed. You make this worth while. **


	4. The Life of a Father

"Teeth?"

"Brushed!" Emilia opened her mouth for inspection.

"Monsters?"

"All scared away!" Emilia pointed to the pots and pans that were lying on the floor.

"Blankets?"

Emilia jumped into her bed and instantly disappeared under the covers. Kurt tickled her until a blond tussled head poked out.

"Daddy, stop it!" She giggled.

Kurt hummed a tune and smoothed the blankets over her, making sure she was tucked in tightly, from head to toes. He perched on her bed. Emilia smiled up at him, her eyes already starting to droop with the promise of sweet and innocent dreams.

"Good night, love." Kurt brushed her hair from her face and onto the pink pillow.

Emilia let out a sleepy sigh and let her eyes close, knowing she was safe with her dad watching over her.

The bed creek with as Kurt got up and shuffled out of the room, carefully avoiding all manner of impromptu monster-scaring-away instruments. He flicked off her light and stepped out into the hallway, beginning to pull the door shut behind him.

He paused in with the door halfway shut, noticing the soft light from the hall light illuminating his daughter. Tears crept into his eyes. He tired to capture every detail; the golden hair across the pillow, the plump mouth in a prefect 'o' and the tiny hand wrapped around the stuffed lion she had had since birth.

Kurt closed the door the soft click echoing through the empty house. All the laughter and cheer had gone to bed with his little girl. He turned off the hall light and made his way to the living room where a stack of fashion magazines and a, now cold, mug of hot chocolate a waited him. The last vestiges of the sunset were disappearing, Kurt looked out the window seeing the soft light being replaced by the harsh halogen light of billboards and high rise buildings that drowned out the light of the stars and blocked the moon out of the sky. He sat down on the sofa, alone in the growing darkness.

Kurt's mind turned to another night. One with stars that could be counted in the thousands and A moon that hung low over a rippling lake. A flurry of shooting stars that lit up that eager face of his first love. A kiss that was as warm as the night air that summer.

But as Kurt fell asleep there was no one there to help him scare away his monsters, no one to hold his hand as he let the bad dreams take over his mind once again.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for your patience, and your humoring me with my little joke. The reviews i got saying i had fooled you made it worth it for me. I hope you like this chapter. You guys are the best!**


	5. On the Playground

Blaine stood, hands in his pockets and back to the wind, squinting out over the play ground. He brought a hand to his eye to shade them from the bright afternoon sun. The orange vest he was wearing crinkled under his arms. Blaine checked his watch. Five minutes until his shift was over and some other teacher got to watch the kids at recess.

He brushed a stray curl back from his forehead absentmindedly. Some teachers thought this was an imposition that they were made to do every so often. Blaine thought back to the work on his desk and grinned. This wasn't the imposition. This was the point.

He looked out over the soccer game to the jungle-guy at the back of the playground. He should do one more round before heading in.

A ball tapped his leg gently and rolled a few inches back towards the group of kids playing foursquare with it.

"Sorry, Mr. Anderson!" Emilia called sheepishly catching up with the now stilled ball.

Emilia was a sweet, well adjusted girl. She was always polite to him and her other class mates, and if she had a gift for filling the lime light? Well, so had her dad. She must have gotten that from him, that and the glint of mischief in her eyes even when behaving.

"Not a problem."He smiled down at her, hands going back into his pockets. He watched her grin and return to the game triumphant. He watched as when she was halfway there her foot caught on a loose stone, and her smile vanished as she was hurdled face first into the hard, unforgiving pavement.

The world stopped for a second, until a piercing cry shattered the silence.

Blaine found himself keeling beside her. "Shhh... don't move. It is ok. I'm here." He soothed. He turned her gently, checking for broken bones.

"Daddy!" She cried through the gravel and blood all over her face. "I want m-my Daddy."

"I know. Come on, we will go get you cleaned up and wait for your dad ok?" Blaine lifted her off the ground and carried her quickly into the building. Emilia clutched at his shoulders, face buried into his now stained shirt.

"Call Kurt Hummel." He called as he walked by the secretary, setting Emilia down in the first aid office. "It is going to be ok, I promise." He whispered to the silently sobbing girl.

As Blaine bandaged her up he fought the urge to take her in his arms and kiss it all better. It was something he had never felt for any of his students. Something that was unprofessional and could get him fired, gay or not. But when she looked up at him with those startling blue eyes, filled with trust and tears, he remembered another set of blue eyes that had looked at him the same way, so long ago.

"This is going to sting a little." He cautioned as he pressed the disinfecting wipe across her face, trying to be as efficient as possible. Emilia winced at it stung her open cuts. That is how it always ended for him, wasn't it? Hurting the ones he loved for their own good. But the fact that it was for the best, for both of them, never seemed to ease the pain of the moment.

* * *

**A/N: As always i am starved for affection and want to hear for you all. **


	6. On Bumps and Bruises

Somewhere in a nondescript high-rise building there was a phone off the hook, a woman still speaking futilely on the other end and an office full of staff confused at who would be running anywhere at this time of day.

None of this mattered to Kurt.

_Emillia. Emillia. I need to get to Emillia. _

He didn't want his daughter to go through this. _Never again._ He promised himself.

* * *

The smell of antiseptic met Kurt as he approached the room to which he had been directed by the school secretary. His feet fell heavily, echoing in the halls cheap flickering florescent light over head. His teeth were deeply embedded in his lips by this point and his head was aching with worried thoughts. He took a moment to prepare himself for a sobbing daughter that needed comfort as he looked into the room.

But instead the scene he saw there stunned him to stillness for a completely different reason. Blaine, his _Blaine_, was on one knee in front of his daughter. He wiped at her nose and Emilia let out a weak giggle. Blaine grinned and threw the wipe to the trash, missing horrendously.

She was safe. Kurt felt his lungs pulling deep gulps of air. He rested his head against the door frame.

This made Emilia kick her feet gleefully. One of her shoes struck against Blaine lightly and he keeled over, pretending to be dead on the floor for a few seconds, over dramatically.

"Kurt?" Blaine's voice broke his trance, Kurt saw him for a moment, undignified, sprawled on the floor, looking up at him with puppy dog innocence.

Kurt thought he spotted something in the corner of Blaine's right eye, something warm and comforting. All this was forgotten as his arms and thoughts were occupied with a small blond whirl wind.

"Daddy!" Emilia buried her snotty face in his shirt as he held her close.

"How are you, my brave girl?" Kurt pressed his lips to her hair cherishing the way her little arms clasped around him for comfort. He couldn't care less about the outfit she had ruined or the way her sudden attack had messed with his hair.

"My face hurts." She pouted, looking up at Kurt and pointing to the gauze bandage in her chin.

"I can see that you are a little banged up around the edges. What happened?"

"I fell."

Kurt searched her eyes. "Promise?"

"Yeah." Her face went solemn as she answered her father directly, meeting his gaze calmly.

Kurt hitched her up a little higher on his hip and looked at Blaine, who was casually leaning against a wall. "I'm taking Emilia home."

Blaine nodded slowly.

"Where is her…?" Kurt trailed off as Blaine held up a bejewelled princess bag.

Kurt held one hand out for the bag, but Blaine shook his head nodding at the girl in Kurt's arms. "I'll carry it."

* * *

"Thank you." Kurt said as he closed the car door, Emilia safely buckled in.

"The bag wasn't that heavy." Blaine paused and licked his lips, squinting in the sun. "Actually Kurt there was something I wanted to talk to you about. Emilia's mom."

"I'd really rather not Blaine." He heard Kurt say his name and it was like a silent punch in the gut.

"I mean did you-? How is she her mother?"

"I impregnated her," Kurt rolled his eyes, "via some very expensive doctors in a private hospital." He started to open the car door, but Blaine reached out and put his hand on the front window. Kurt turned and Blaine was suddenly so close he could see each individual eyelash, or count the lines that ran horizontally over his lips.

Kurt lowered his voice and continued. "She sees her mother once a week. She is my daughter and that is all you need to know, Blaine. We don't talk about it."

"Well, maybe you should."

"Just drop it. Ok?"

"Well excuse me for caring!" Blaine's heart stopped. He had not actually said that, right? He had not just told Kurt that he cared. After all that had happened he had not just admitted that to the man standing so close to him leaning up against the car. "Kurt-"

Emilia banged on the window impatiently.

"I have to go." Kurt turned and opened the door forcefully enough to send Blaine stumbling back a step. In the distance the bell rang. "And so do you." Kurt got in the car and slammed the door behind him, turning the ignition and leaving Blaine standing all alone in an empty parking lot.

* * *

**A/N: this on is long, but I like it. It also has a lot of plot, which I am happy about. **

** Thanks as always to my beta, pineapple92 for reading over this when we were both ridiculously tired. **

**But thank you most to those who leave me reviews and come find me on tumblr. I love you all. **


	7. Emilia

Emilia opened her eyes. She blinked slowly and tucked the silky-blanket under her chin. She closed her eyes and listened to her father moving around in the kitchen. The stove beeped and she heard the whirling of the fan.

He dad was humming. He only hummed when he wasn't sad. She smiled into her blankets at his voice. It had been so long. He had gotten so sad when she had been at her other school, when she had lived with her mom, when everything had happened. No. When she had told someone what happened. That is when he got sad.

She wasn't going to make him sad again.

She was going to tough it out, just like her mom had told her.

Soon her dad would come in and help her pick out her outfit; soon she would put on a smile for him. But for right now she could curl up in her blankets and feel sad.

* * *

The bus ride to school was the worst.

Katie from down the road got a ride into school. So Emilia had to sit all alone. She looked down at the worn gray empty seat next to her. She wished she was in that car with Katie. She would give anything not to be here.

She didn't like the girls in the front comparing their Hello Kitty bags that their mom's had gotten them. The bags were ugly anyway.

She didn't like that Jason sat behind her and pulled at her hair, even when she told him she didn't like it.

"Jason, stop it."

"No! Who did you hair you dad?"

"Yes. And I don't like you pulling on it."

"Why aren't your mom and dad married?

"They don't want to be." Emilia leaned forward, head against the back of the cool seat in front of her. She hoped that the distance would give her some reprieve.

Oh, how wrong she was. Jason never stopped. He kept at it the whole bus ride.

At least when she got to school Mr. Anderson was there. He looked down at her with his warm smile and the brown eyes that were filled with laughs.

"How is your knee doing, Emilia?" He bent down so he could talk to her face to face.

She lifted her leg and showed him the band-aid. It was an Aladdin one. Her favorite.

"All better!" She told him.

"Then why is there still a band-aid there?"

"I just like it. It's pretty."

"Of course." He straightened. "It goes with your hat."

Emilia just smiled and nodded, because she already knew that. He dad had helped her pick it out that morning.

In class he sang things because they had been good all day. He even played the theme to the Simpsons on the piano for them at the end of the day since they had been extra good. Emilia sat there and hummed along kicking her feet, chin planted firmly in her hands.

Mr. Anderson could do anything. He even would act out scenes of things he read to them, and once he climbed up _on a chair_. Emilia giggled as she remembered. You weren't allowed to do that.

* * *

Emilia got off the bus at the end of the day and smiled. _Home_. She always felt much better once she had gotten away from the kids on the bus.

She ran all the way to her dad, who had already made her fruit salad. She ate it, not because she liked fruit salad, but because he had cut up the apples in different animal shaped just for her.

"We are having a class party!" She told her dad. "No healthy food allowed, Mr Anderson said so." She grinned mischievously. He dad **loved** healthy food.

Her dad's eyes wrinkled at the corners and his mouth scrunched. Emilia took a bite out of her apple. This was going to be fun.

* * *

**A/n: honestly. i had kind of given up on writing. Then yesterday I got a while bunch of messages for people I love tell me who much they like it, and one asked me to write another chapter of this. So here it is. **

**Thank you all for your support and lovely messages, especially the ones who went out of their way to find me on tumblr. You guys rock.**

**And thank you as always to Jen (pineapple92) for her never ending work in correcting all I write, in a fic or just in general life. Love you. **


	8. Vivian

_Oh the glory of indoor pools_, Kurt thought to himself, _all the fun of swimming and relaxing without the hassle of sun screen and sunburn_. He cracked open one lazy eye to watch Emilia splashing happily in the pool. He had received his fair-sun prone skin and a love of swimming from her mother.

A ringing awakened him from his half-daze.

Kurt hummed to himself as he picked it up not even checking the caller ID. It was probably Mercedes, no one else would call him on a Saturday.

"Hello?" He drew out the vowels of the word lazily.

"Where in the name of God do you think you are?" The shriek made him almost drop his blackberry into the pool. He contemplated doing just that instead of talking to the woman on the other end.

Instead, Kurt held the screeching phone away from his ear and walked to the glass door and silently slid it closed behind him, his eyes still on his swimming daughter.

"What do you want, Viv?" He sighed. This call was becoming much too common.

"You know what I want. I am here. Where is she?" They both knew the script so well.

"You are four hours late. We went swimming without you." Kurt offered. Vivian knew where Emilia went swimming. If she really wanted to see her daughter she could show up. But Kurt didn't think that was what this call was about.

"I am not…" There was silence in the other end as buttons clicked and then her voiced returned calmer. "I want to see my daughter. That was the deal."

"Well a lot has happened that wasn't in our deal." Kurt accused reminding her of why Emilia lived with him exclusively now. "She will see you at the same time next weekend. Bye."

"I see that it is happening again. You assured everyone that if she lived with you it wouldn't. That a new school was all she needed."

"Good bye, Vivian." Kurt said more firmly. Kurt closed the phone. He took a deep breath before walking back to his lounge chair beside the pool. The sad part was that they had once worked together so well.

"Who was that daddy?" Emilia stopped her slashing in the shallow end to look up at her dad.

"Just work. I told them that I have more important things to do."

"Like what?"

"Like this!" Kurt ran across the deck and cannon balled into the cool water, he came up spluttering and coughing as the water stung his eyes.

Emilia giggled as her dad swam over to her and picked up

"Mommy is going to take me shopping to buy a pony." She told him idly as she hung in his arms. "I'm going to name him Jasper."

"Oh?" Kurt did his best to suppress the rage building in his belly. "That's a nice name for a horse."


	9. Carrot sticks are sexy, ok?

Kurt juggled the three trays as he slid into Emilia's homeroom during recess. He eyed the already full table in the back of the room with disgust. Apparently all the other parents had been a little more organized than he was with their contributions to the class party. And what contributions they were: nothing on that table was healthy, just like Blai- _he_ had asked.

Luckily for everyone Kurt had brought enough fruits and vegetables for the entire class.

He should have had one of his assistants from the firm come help him. That or he should have done two trips from the car. But no, he had been determined to get it all done as fast as possible. Kurt made a mental note to stop being so pig-headed in the future. But this would mean he would be in and out faster. This meant less time to run into a certain sexy teacher.

As if it would matter if he saw Blaine, it's not like anything could happen. Blaine probably had someone by now. He had probably settled down and was really happy -without Kurt.

He made his way precariously over to the table and was contemplating how to manover everything so nothing would drop when he felt a warm hand on the small of his back. It settled low and set a pulsing wave though his veins as his heart rate sped up.

"Can I help you with those?" Kurt was not given time to answer, which might have been for the best. His soft hands removed themselves from his back and relieved him of two of the trays. Blaine set them down out of Kurt's line of vision. Kurt waited for him to keep moving but he could hear Blaine settle himself against an adjacent desk. He had always been able to out wait Kurt.

"Thanks." Kurt managed to say, he cleared a spot for the other tray and started unwrapping slowly and carefully, making sure the plastic wrap didn't stick together and tangle itself up. Cling-film could be re-used, Kurt rationalized.

But unfortunately what cling-film couldn't do was keep him busy forever.

Kurt kept fiddling with the trays - arranging the carrot sticks just so, making sure all the radish roses were in perfect three-point clusters. Finally his hands fell still at his sides and Blaine was still there. Like he always was. Even when Kurt pushed him away. Blaine was there, waiting for Kurt all over again.

It was about time Kurt let him stop waiting.

"I'm sorry," Blaine cut to the chase. "I shouldn't have pried like that, it was unprofessional of me."

Kurt's lips burned as he remembered how unprofessional he and Blaine used to be. The warmth of them pressed together on the couch. Kurt remembered hands wandering in classrooms when no one was looking and kisses stolen in the cafeteria. He turned and crossed his arms over himself, as much to protect as to restrain himself.

"No harm, no foul." Kurt pushed back against the desk. His feet carried him across the cheap carpeting. He had to get out. This was more, _so much more,_ than he could handle. Blaine could un-wrap the last two trays himself if he was going to insist on standing there with those eyes and that cologne which he hadn't changed in fifteen years.

Blaine caught his hand. It vaguely surprised Kurt that it still fit so well in his own. "Please accept my apology anyway. If I needed to know something as her teacher, you would have told me. Can you forgive me?"

"Yes," He heard himself say. He didn't know what he was agreeing to. He didn't much care at this point. Kurt flexed his fingers under Blaine's rougher callused hands. Kurt brought them up to face level to inspect the ends of Blaine's fingers. "You stopped using the hand cream I gave you after…" _after we broke up._The unspoken words hung in the air between them.

"No." Blaine's voice had turned rough and gravely. Kurt looked up in surprise. "I couldn't." He searched Kurt's eyes for a moment. "You know why." Blaine pulled his hands away from Kurt.

"I'm sorry. I was wrong. I was so stupid. Oh ,Blaine." Kurt could feel the weight of those memories pressing in on him. Filling his lunges and cutting his breath into short little gasps. "Please. Blaine."

And then a miracle happened. Blaine was there. Right there beside him and holding Kurt while he repeated the apology he had sobbed into his pillow for so many years.

Kurt let his nose press into the clean folds of Blaine's collar. He felt the soothing circles being rubbed into his back by expert hands. Blaine's fingers kneaded out the tension in his muscles as they traced the down his spine. Blaine's breath was warm on his neck where Kurt's head bent low to rest on Blaine's shoulder. Blaine hummed until Kurt could feel himself becoming still once more. But this stillness had nothing in common with the frozen anxiety he had felt before.

This stillness was of peace, of homecoming.

"Don't cry, Kurt. I am always here."

"I know." Kurt pulled his head back to wipe at his eyes. Blaine's hands stopped on the sides of Kurt's waist. The look in Blaine's eye was weary and wondering at once.

It was _that_look. The one that always made Kurt's heart jump a little.

"I didn't mean it. What I said all those years ago." Kurt clarified, tucking himself back into Blaine's arms snugly. "I loved you. I just didn't know how much. I should have trusted that. Trusted you. Trusted us."

"No. Kurt." Blaine pulled him closer to lean more securely against his shoulder. "You were right. We were young. And how ever much I loved you, you needed something else."

"That was the stupidest reason to break up." Kurt half laughed.

"It was stupid to break up." Blaine agreed. This time it was Blaine moving his head back. Kurt straightened his neck.

Kurt remembered suddenly what that look was, ferocity. Blaine had always been passionate; about singing, the Warblers, his family. And Kurt.

Blaine was still passionate about Kurt.

Kurt let his eyes fall closed when he felt the first brush of Blaine's thumb across the very edge of his lower lip. His mouth opened slightly of its own volition. He turned his head and pressed his lips against the pad of Blaine's thumb.

The thumb was withdrawn. Blaine's lips pressed lightly on Kurt's open mouth. They were as soft as he dreamed them, and as warm as he remembered them to be.

Kurt kissed Blaine back a little firmer, a little more demanding. It was a kiss of wanting after all those years, one that was returned whole heartedly.

Fingers clutched at loosened clothing and teeth nipped at lips. Blaine was pinned between Kurt and the desk.

"Kurt." Blaine begged against his lips. "The kids." Kurt's eyes opened and flicked to the clock.

"I should go." Kurt breathed in Blaine and let his hands drop.

"We need to talk. Please." Kurt nodded silently. Blaine took Kurt's hands. "Call me. Soon."

Kurt stepped away slowly, leaving Blaine plenty of time to untangle their bodies. The corners of his swollen lips lifted slightly on either side. "I promise."

Their fingers were the last things to pull apart and as Kurt turned his back on a dishevelled Blaine he brought the pads of his fingers up to his lips to hold in the feeling of being touched again.

Of being loved.

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys so this one was kind long. but it needed it. Oh well. Thanks to Jen who is the best beta, anyone could tell me I was wrong, she can do it while making me laugh. **

**Also. I took the name for this story from a song. If you can figure it out I will be impressed. **

**I love you all and your reviews keep me going. 3**


	10. Chapter 10

Blaine tapped his red pen on the table.

He contemplated the spelling test before him.

C-a-l-l. He should call Kurt. Tick

B-e-c-a-u-s-e. Because this was getting stupid. He had to stop thinking about him. Tick.

K-i-t-t-e-n. Kurt moved like a cat. He remembered. Tick

H-e-l-l. His life was hell without- wait. Blaine marked an X on the page and wrote in _hill_ above it.

Blaine set down the pen and looked over at his phone. He ran his hands through his hair. It wasn't too late to call. Kurt was probably still at work. He would just leave a message.

His eyes traced the number on the pad.

746 3672

It had been a whole day. That was a long enough period to wait to call the man who had cornered you in a class room and kissed you, right?

746 3672

Blaine's hand reached out, hovering over the cordless phones on the table. His fingers brushed over the keypad pressing the numbers he had spent the last hour obsessing over, and the last seven years trying to forget.

7-4-6

The numbers glowed green in the dimly lit room. The silver of the phone illuminated with the sickly color.

3-6-7

The curser waited patiently as his finger came to land on the last digit in the number. The coursers flashing seemed to slow as Blaine sunk into his own mind, letting go of the flashing green light and the home he had built for himself. Instead he was walking home in the darkening evening, running up the stairs of the apartment they had shared during the last of his college years, the last of their days.

Kurt was sitting at the small table in the living room. He had pressed a kiss to Kurt's unresponsive head. He glanced over Kurt's shoulder to see the large envelopes that sat arrayed on the table. He remembered the exact sinking feeling that he had gotten when he knew that Kurt had seen them.

Blaine let his eyes open and let the phone drop.

The shattering of their relationship and the cold words that followed were made even more hurtful now that Blaine could see that Kurt was just trying to do his best for him, for them.

The only thing that Blaine could have said he learned from that failure was that indecision was a valid choice as well, and was, now like then, perhaps the more hurtful of his options.

Lots of skin, the smell of his hair, and the urgent pressure of lip against lip, he weighed that against all the pain and uncertainty. And the hope, sometimes Blaine forgot to hope.

Blaine picked up the phone. One finger tapped in Kurt's number.

_Ring._ He smoothed the cord with one finger.

_Ring._ He picked up his pen and started fidgeting with it again. Tap. Tap.

_Ring-_ "Hello?"

"Hi. It's me. I-" Blaine bit his lip. "Hi."

There was a pause on the other end the silence buzzed between them.


End file.
